Wednesday, 28 April 2010

There seems to be more than the usual amount of blackthorn blossom this year. Very often when the bushes are in bloom, the weather turns wintry and we have what is known as a blackthorn winter. (The opposite of an Indian summer, I suppose.) But this year things seem to have been reversed and we are enjoying a delightful spring.

Tuesday, 27 April 2010

Monday, 26 April 2010

Just across the main London Road from the horse trough is Patcham Recreation Ground with its backdrop of glorious beech trees. The cricket pavilion might look fairly old, but it is in fact quite new. It was built along the same lines as the old one, which was burnt to the ground by vandals.

Sunday, 25 April 2010

Patcham is the next "village" west of Stanmer. It was at one time a small place to the north of Brighton but is now just a suburb of the city. This Victorian horse trough stands where the road from London entered the village and where the Old London Road meets the newer village bypass.

Sunday, 18 April 2010

Saturday, 17 April 2010

From the Boss: Fern dropped her ball, which rolled into the pond. She won't go into the water (being the world's wimpiest dog) so had to lie as close to the edge as she dared and stretch her neck to try and reach the ball with her teeth. It was several minutes before she succeeded.

Monday, 12 April 2010

Part of the Wild Park has been cleared of scrub and fenced off so that sheep can be grazed. I think the idea is to encourage the growth of plants that were once common on the South Downs when they were largely used for grazing sheep.

Sunday, 11 April 2010

Saturday, 10 April 2010

Before satellites, mapping was carried out by the Ordnance Survey using a method known as triangulation. This involved concrete triangulation (or trig for short) points being set up on high spots all over the country. This one is on the ramparts of the Roman Camp. From here, the surveyors would have been able to see several other trig points and measure the bearings from one to another and from trig points to other places, the whole being transcribed onto paper to produce maps.

Thursday, 8 April 2010

Wednesday, 7 April 2010

I really enjoyed my few days on the farm, meeting up with my old friends and making a new one in the 9-months-old puppy that also came to stay for a couple of days. And here is a picture of the first lamb born on the farm this year.